Deputy President Paul Mashatile has confirmed that he is friends with corruption-accused Edwin Sodi, but says he has not benefited financially from the friendship.
The City of Tshwane earlier this year wrote to the National Treasury to restrict Sodi and his companies NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting, which were part of a joint venture to upgrade the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant, due to failure to perform.
Mashatile’s acknowledgment is contained in answers to the parliamentary ethics committee in response to a complaint by DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube.
Gwarube filed the complaint after News24 ran a series of stories linking Mashatile to alleged corruption. News24 reports suggested that a company owned by Mashatile’s son-in-law Nceba Nonkwelo, Nonkwelo Investments, was granted a R30m loan by the Gauteng Partnership Fund, an entity of the Gauteng department of human settlements, for a student housing project that never materialised.
The news site alleged that Mashatile made use of mansions owned by Nonkwelo in Constantia, Cape Town, and Waterfall in Midrand, Gauteng.
News24 also reported that the deputy president had spent time in Sodi’s house in Clifton, Cape Town. Sodi is one of the accused in the R255m Free State asbestos corruption trial, alongside former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. The Zondo commission heard that Sodi made payments to ANC leaders, including Mashatile.
Mashatile told the ethics committee that he stayed at Sodi’s Clifton property for social visits and that the payments in question from Sodi, whom he has known for three decades, were for the benefit of the ANC and were paid into the party’s accounts.
Mashatile has also rejected allegations that he corruptly influenced tenders for the benefit of his family or close friends.
“When it comes to my relationship with Mr Sodi, it's important to note that we are friends. We've known each other since the early 1990s,” said Mashatile.
“Apart from our friendship there exists no professional or financial affiliation between Mr Sodi, his companies, and me. Any insinuation suggesting otherwise is unfounded and without merit. Yes, I have occasionally visited and stayed at Mr Sodi’s Clifton property during visits to Cape Town. These visits were purely for social purposes, and I never visited the property when Mr Sodi was not staying there.”
Mashatile submitted his affidavit to parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests just weeks before the elections. He called the allegations against him “flimsy” and designed to tarnish his name ahead of the polls. The committee should dismiss the complaint, he said.
“The complaint lodged by Hon Gwarube, even though it's under oath, is not evidence. It is unsubstantiated hearsay, and an attempt to convince the committee to embark on an impermissible fishing expedition. This should, with respect, be the end of the complaint,” wrote Mashatile.
“Therefore, it is my humble contention that Hon Gwarube's complaint amounts to nothing short of sensationalism, evidently crafted to tarnish my character and moral integrity in the public sphere, especially in light of the impending general elections.”
When it comes to my relationship with Mr Sodi, it's important to note that we are friends. We've known each other since the early 1990s.
— Paul Mashatile
Mashatile, who has been under fire since taking up the deputy president position last year, is now campaigning to clear his name.
Since he moved into the Union Buildings, the Gauteng political heavyweight has been defending himself against controversy after controversy, ranging from a public spat with his ex-girlfriend Gugu Nkosi to a range of articles linking him to alleged corruption.
These allegations have isolated him politically from his core support, especially in Limpopo. Delegates from the province lobbied hard for his election as ANC deputy president at the 2022 Nasrec conference.
Mashatile has apparently speculated that the push for a coalition with the DA by some in the ANC would have involved him being sacrificed for John Steenhuisen. The ANC has since decided to opt for a government of national unity.
His allies say he suspected that the allegations hanging over his head would be used as a bargaining chip in the coalition talks to install the DA leader as deputy president.
Mashatile is now trying to clear his name ahead of the seventh administration. This week he wrote to the ANC integrity commission’s head Frank Chikane requesting a meeting so he could try to clear his name. In that correspondence, which the Sunday Times has seen, Mashatile told Chikane that he has already furnished parliament’s ethics committee with an affidavit.
Referring to the the Waterfall mansion where he lives, Mashatile said he does not own it; it is a family home registered under Legacy Properties, a company owned by his son Thabiso Mashatile and Nonkwelo.
“As indicated in the disclosure, I presently reside at the property which serves as our family home. The nature of my stay at the property does not constitute a benefit or hospitality. I reside at the property due to a familial arrangement and not as a formal gift or benefit,” said Mashatile.
“Therefore, no quantifiable value can be attributed to this arrangement as it was based upon family relationships rather than a material exchange, and no disclosure was required.”
He says he only has one house in Kelvin, Johannesburg. He moved to the Waterfall property in March last year after “persistent threats which were being made against my life and those who reside with me by an aggrieved ex-girlfriend. The threat also extended to my adviser, Mr Keith Khoza,” Mashatile wrote.
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